Yachatz

LEADER

We need the top matzah to remain whole. We’ll be making a blessing on it later on. Blessings are said on whole things.

Take hold of the middle of the three matzahs on your Seder Plate. Break it in two. Leave the smaller half between the two complete matzos.

The piece that remains on the Seder Plate is the “poor man’s bread” over which the tale of our slavery is said. Poor people only eat a small part of their bread — they need to save the rest in case tomorrow there is none.

PARTICIPANT

WHAT IT MEANS

Wyy is there so much broken in this world? Why did the Cosmic Designer make a world where hearts break, lives shatter, beauty crumbles? A whole vessel can contain its measure, but a broken one can hold the Infinite.

Matzah is called the poor man’s bread. He is low and broken. And it is this brokenness that allows him to open his soul and escape his Egypt. 

As long as we feel whole, there is no room left for us to grow. It is when we realize we are but a fragment, that we need the others around us, that so much of us is missing — that is when miracles begin.

PARTICIPANT

 What Is the Afikoman and What does It Mean?

We take the three matzahs that are stacked under the Seder plate and split it into two parts. We return the smaller half to its place between the other two matzahs, and we place the larger half in a bag or wrap it in a cloth, and then set it aside. The matzah that is set aside is called the afikomen, and it is eaten for “dessert” after the Seder meal in commemoration of the paschal sacrifice.

The word afikomen is from the Greek epikomen or epikomion, meaning “that which comes after.” Others say that it comes from the Aramaic afiku min, which means “bring out various delicacies with which to end the meal.”

PARTICIPANT

Now, Why We Hide the Afikomen

The simple reason that we put the afikomen aside or hide it, is because we will eat this matzah only near the very end of the Seder, and we don’t want it to get mixed up with the other matzahs at the table.1

in addition, when putting aside the afikomen matzah, the custom is to wrap it in some sort of cloth or napkin as a remembrance of the way the Jews left Egypt with their soon-to-be matzahs,2 as described in the Torah:

The people picked up their dough when it was not yet leavened, their leftovers bound in their garments on their shoulders.3

LEADER

Some families have the custom to hide the piece of matzah that was set aside for the afikomen, and have the children find it and then return it only in lieu of a promised gift. This custom is based on a statement in the Talmud: “We snatch matzahs on the night of Passover in order that the children should not fall asleep.”4 In other words, the game of hiding the afikomen and the accompanying bargaining for a gift is an activity to engage the kids and make sure that they don’t fall asleep during what is invariably a long evening.


haggadah Section: Yachatz
Source: https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/miriams-song-0